HB edges Marina for league lead

Softball Roundup

Led by pitcher Vierra, Oilers score 1-0 win over Vikings, the defending Sunset League champions.

April 23, 2014|By Mike Sciacca

(SCOTT SMELTZER,…)

There is still plenty of action left in the 2014 Sunset League softball race but three games into the league season, the Huntington Beach Oilers hold the lead.

Huntington picked up a key victory Tuesday at Marina in a game that featured two of the league's perennial top pitchers. The Oilers scored a run in the third inning, avoided several scoring opportunities by the Vikings, and made the run stand in a 1-0 win against the defending league champions.

The win, combined with Edison's loss Tuesday at Los Alamitos, allowed the Oilers, 15-3 overall, 3-0 in league and ranked sixth in CIF Southern Section Division 1, to grab sole possession of the league lead.

Jeff Forsberg said in his nine years as head coach at Huntington, the Oilers had never won at Marina.

Last year, they dropped a 17-inning affair on the same field.

Forsberg said that Huntington had not won on Marina's field in more than 20 years.

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Tuesday's matchup pitted a pair of senior aces, Micaela Vierra of Huntington Beach, and Tera Blanco of Marina, against one another. Both gave strong performances in a game that went down to the final out.

Marina (15-6 overall, 1-2 league) loaded the bases with two out in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Vierra ended the game with a strikeout.

"I figured one run could do it for us," Forsberg said after the game. "I really thought we would get out of [the bases loaded jam]. Micaela [Vierra] was very confident out there.

"Micaela was very calm, very collected. There have been a lot of great pitchers in the Sunset League over the years, and she deserves to be mentioned in that group."

Vierra scattered three hits, walked five, struck out eight, and improved her record to 11-1.

Blanco (14-4) also only gave up three hits and struck out eight, and walked one.

Senior Sammie Vandiver slapped a one-out single through the left-side of the infield in the top of the third. Vandiver stole second base with Alyssa Horeczko (two stolen bases) at the plate. On a 2-2 pitch, Horeczko sent a high, one-hopper toward third base. She reached first and the throw there went into foul play and Vandiver scored.

In addition to loading the bases in the bottom of the seventh, Marina, ranked eighth in CIF Southern Section Division 1, first had loaded bases in the bottom of the third yet couldn't produce a run.

The Vikings put the potential tying run on base in each of the final five innings.